Storr speaks on censorship

Dean of the School of Art Robert Storrspoke on censorship in American visual arts at a day-long symposium in Washington D.C. Saturday.

The event, titled “Culture Wars: Then & Now,” focused on issues of censorship in the arts as a response to the Smithsonian Museum’s removal of a controversial video art piece by artist David Wojnarowicz. The video, which shows an image of ants crawling over figurine of Jesus on the cross, struck a chord with the Catholic League and Republican Congressmen John Boehner of Ohio and Eric Canter of Virginia, eliciting threats to pull public funding for the institution.

The symposium took place at Washington’s Corcoran Gallery of Art and College of Art + Design and was hosted by the Corcoran, in addition to the National Coalition Against Censorship and Transformer, a non-profit organization aimed at advancing the careers of visual artists.